Last week Sandra Steingraber along with eleven others was arrested for blocking construction on the Inergy underground LP storage facility at Watkins Glen. In the interview she explains what led her to the fight on fracking and to the ultimate statement one makes when one practices civil disobedience.

In her interview she tells the story of the retired minister Rev. Gary Judson and how his dignity and commitment to preserving the environment of Watkins Glen inspired her. Here is what she said:

I went to his court appearance (I’m a columnist for Orion Magazine). I wrote a column that was originally set in a courtroom and began with this Methodist minister walking down the aisle to face the judge and he walked slowly, with a kind of dignity that made me feel like this must have been how he walked down the aisle every Sunday up to the altar, but now instead of an altar there is the judge’s bench. He declared himself guilty and then was charged a fine and immediately everyone’s wallet opened up and without a collection plate we were doing the Sunday collection. So all this money was immediately sent forward to pay his fine on his behalf. The courtroom was just filled, we had so many people that there were people standing outside watching through the windows and they jimmied open the windows and they slipped $20 bills in the window. And in a minute we had raised twice as much money to pay the fine, which was not inconsiderable.

That became the opening of my essay which led me into a discussion about these infrastructure projects for fracked gas. Fracking means more than just fracturing the shale, there is the pipelines, the sand mining, and where you’re going to put it all.

So New Yorkers. Fracking is already affecting New York. Where do you stand on civil disobedience? Because the time is coming for you to take a stand…. NOT ONE WELL!